


That's the way it should be

by OnlySkyAboveMe



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: A woman shouldn't have to put on a leather jumpsuit to get a man, And I kinda want to fix the movie cos it's hella problematic, Except in Canada, F/M, Grease AU, I mean have you actually read the lyrics?, Inspired by Grease, Or paid attention to what the characters say?!, Yeah its a Grease fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-07-12 16:10:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15998747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlySkyAboveMe/pseuds/OnlySkyAboveMe
Summary: A Grease AU (but with some tweaks)





	1. Love is a many splendored thing

**Author's Note:**

> Summer heat, boy and girl meet

_August 2007_

Scott stands on the secluded lake shore with his hands on his hips and his face turned towards the bright blue sky, eyes closed as he absorbs the long-awaited summer sunshine. He has weeks of freedom ahead of him before he returns to school for his senior year; time to rest and relax, and not to worry about his parents and teachers on his back, nagging him about grades, detentions, and university applications. This summer is for him; away from the bubble of toxic masculinity that is his group of friends at school, and away from the gaggles of girls following him, desperate for his attention. He breathes deeply, allowing the peace and calm of the deserted lake to wash over him. His moment is interrupted, however, by a splash and a gurgled cry coming from the water, several metres from where he is standing. He opens his eyes and looks straight ahead, squinting at the water, which shimmers with the reflection of the hot morning sun. Then he sees it, a small, pale-skinned hand waving above the water, grasping at the air as if trying to grab onto something that simply is not there.

_Oh crap!_

He is running towards the water now. Not bothering to remove his short-sleeved shirt or the thin cotton trousers he’s wearing over his swimming trunks. He dives in as soon as it is deep enough to do so, and swims furiously towards the person struggling ahead of him, adrenaline coursing through his body. Just as he reaches them the kicking and splashing intensifies, and he takes an elbow to the shoulder as he attempts to grab the person and haul them to safety.

“Stop struggling…” he yells as he grasps the distressed swimmer around the waist, “I’m trying to…” he manages to inhale just before he finds himself being dragged under the water too. He opens his eyes, they sting slightly as he tries to find his bearings beneath the surface of the murky lake, though he is pleased to quickly register that he is not too far out of his depth, the sandy lake bed clearly visible beneath his swirling feet. He brings his attention back to the struggler, his hands still on their waist. He meets a pair of fearful eyes, her face partially hidden as shoulder-length brown hair swirls around it. He grabs her shoulders forcefully, pulling and kicking with all his might to bring both their heads up from under the water.

They break the surface with a gasp. He holds her torso tightly so as to try and calm her and stop her from going under again, she splutters, drawing deep, ragged breaths as he treads water for the both of them. 

“It’s ok, you’re ok,” he says against her ear, slightly breathless in his efforts to keep them afloat. His front is to her back, one arm over her collarbone, the other around her waist. He purposefully takes in a deep, steady breath in order to calm both her and himself. After a few moments, her breathing evens out and synchronises with his, and her legs begin to circle to hold herself up above the surface.

“Are you alright?” he asks gently, still holding onto her. She hums squeakily and nods her head slightly, he slowly slackens his grip and lets her go. She turns in the water to face him, and Scott swears her eyes must be mirrors reflecting the sun-kissed lake they’re treading water in. He swallows roughly and clears his throat, “Come on, let’s get out of the water, we’re not far from the shore, you can hold on to me as we swim back.” 

“It’s ok,” she says timidly, an unfamiliar accent on her lips, “I think I can swim there myself.”

And boy, can she; taking off towards the shore in a powerful front crawl before stepping shakily out of the water, turning to look back and see him making his sluggish way towards dry land with a lopsided breaststroke. A look of incredulity flashes over her face, which turns to a small smirk as he emerges from the water, his soaked shirt and trousers clinging to his body, utterly exhausted from his efforts.

“Adrenaline, eh?” he says with a shrug and his arms outstretched, looking down at his soaked clothing. His eyes flick over her; she is wearing a pale pink one-piece, which almost blends into her alabaster skin. Her eyes are stunningly green, and her nose and cheeks are scattered with delicate freckles. She reaches up and wrings out her wet hair, pulling it to one side over a similarly freckled shoulder. His mouth feels dry, but he can’t just stand there and stare at her open-mouthed, so he sticks his hand out.

“I’m Scott” he introduces himself, with a nervousness he has never experienced before.

“Tessa,” she replies, voice shy under his gaze, but meeting it as she takes his hand to shake it. “Thank you for rescuing me. I feel like a complete fool, though, I swim all the time at home but haven’t all holiday until this morning and I got cramp in my legs right as I was about to head back in. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t appeared.” She lets out a shaky breath and swallows with a tiny sob, looking down at her feet. 

“Lucky for us both I was here then,” he says smoothly, finding his confidence in his sudden desire to make her feel better, and to try to test his theory that a smile will make her eyes shine brighter. He decides to change the subject away from her near-death experience. “Where are you holidaying from? You don’t sound like you’re from Ontario.”

“Oh,” she says, looking up at him again, “no, I live in Melbourne, Australia. My mother is from Windsor though, and has family across the border in Michigan. We’re over for a family reunion, which was last week, and now we’ve come up here for a week on the lake to relax before heading home. It’s winter in Australia so we only have a short vacation.” 

“Oh right,” says Scott, a little taken aback by meeting someone from the other side of the world in this small Canadian lakeside town. He looks her up and down, taking her in again, “I thought Australia was full of tanned surfers with sun-bleached hair?” He thinks of the Australian shows and commercials he’s seen on TV and what the people in them looked like.

“Well most of us are,” says Tessa, clearly slightly amused by his remark, a small but brilliant smile pulling at her delicate mouth, “but as I said, I’m half Canadian. Plus, I don’t get out in the sun much. I spend most of my spare time in the dance studio or the swimming pool. No time for sunbathing and surfing, particularly not when I don’t live near that near to the beach anyway. Have I ruined all your stereotypical expectations of antipodean life?”

He opens his mouth to respond, but finds he has no comeback to this, mainly because he didn’t really understand her last sentence. After a moment she begins to laugh, highly amused by his impression of a fish as he stands there, opening and closing his mouth with a bemused expression on his face. He comes back to himself at the sound and returns her laugh.

When her striking eyes meet his again their laughter swiftly subsides.

* * *

They both know that the sunset is the cue for them to part ways. Both are expected by their respective families for dinner, and lateness is not an option. He pulls her to him as they watch the sun dipping below the surface of the lake in the distance, a red and orange glow filling the sky and reflecting off the water. He brings his face down to hers, noses brushing gently as he pulls her in for a tender kiss. 

“This has been the best week of my life,” sighs Tessa as they break apart, “it feels almost unfair that I have to leave tomorrow.”

“It is unfair,” huffs Scott, downcast resignation in his body language, shoulders slumping as he continues to cradle her face in his hands. “Why does this have to be the end? Can’t it just be the beginning?” He kisses her again, endeavouring to remember everything about how her lips feel and taste before they part forever. A silent tear trickles down Tessa’s cheek as she returns the kiss with passion, arms moving tightly around him and hands reaching up to grasp his shoulders, leaving no space between their bodies.

“Tessa!” Her sister’s voice is distant but clear, and she knows that it is time to go. She pulls away, pecking Scott on the lips once more before she begins to walk back towards the path to their rented cottage. She turns before leaving the clearing, eyes meeting his one last time, forcing a watery smile and returning his wave. He watches her retreating form until she is gone, then he too turns to head towards home. 

* * *

Tessa is crying early the next morning as their car pulls away from the cottage as she and her family head towards the airport to catch their flight home. When questioned she hastily wipes her tears away with the hem of her shirt, blaming tiredness and the prospect of a long flight ahead of her. She’s left to it in the backseat, her parents are bickering in the front over the route to the airport and where the hire car drop off is located. She sighs and shoves her headphones into her ears, attempting to drown out the noise and be lulled to sleep by the muffled whirr and vibration of the tyres on the road.

Tears prick at Scott’s eyes several hours later as he breathlessly comes to a halt outside her family’s rental cottage, which now stands quiet and empty. No hire car sits in the driveway, just the cleaning company’s van. In his clenched fist is the ruined scrap of paper she had written her email address on the previous morning, which he had accidentally left in the pocket of his shorts that his mother had put through the washing machine earlier that day. He kicks angrily at the gravel when he remembers that he had promised to write his down for her too, but had completely forgotten as the day ran away from them. He spends the rest of the day sitting on the abandoned dock a short hike away from his family’s house, his toes dipping in the water as he watches the birds come and go from the surrounding trees, staring wistfully up at the sky every time an aeroplane passes overhead.

For the rest of August, he seeks solitude whenever he can. He tries not to think about Tessa too much, or think about how upsetting it must be for her to have not received any communication from him. He hacks into Danny’s computer one afternoon while he is out playing softball with the neighbours and goes on his Facebook to try and search for Tessa, but he cannot find her. He’s not at all familiar with social media, and decides against making an account of his own, particularly if she’s not on there either. Instead, he fills his quiet hours reading university prospectuses and preparing his applications. His parents do not question his sudden quietness, they are thankful that he is finally taking his future seriously and doing what he needs to do to make something of himself once he leaves high school. He studies, he reads, he avoids his friends, and he gradually dreads returning to school.

Tessa’s crying does not stop after the drive to the airport, and she sheds many more tears during August as her life is turned on its head. They are tears of loss, of confusion, of separation she is not ready for. She stops checking her email, fed up of the hurt and disappointment of finding no new messages from him. Life becomes too busy and hectic anyway, her spare time is spent packing, saying goodbye, and attempting to reason with her father. She gives up on that too.

Come September she finds herself walking towards the doors of a large and intimidating public high school, a Canadian flag fluttering from the flagpole. Her Senior year will not be the one she wanted or expected, but it will certainly be one that she will never forget.


	2. Summer days drifting away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What did you do this summer?"

_ September 2007 _

Tessa’s foot jiggles nervously as she sits outside Principal Browning’s office. She hates being new and not knowing anyone, it was bad enough when she started high school in Australia, and she isn't particularly looking forward to experiencing it again. The last few weeks have been a stressful upheaval, and she dearly misses her siblings, her friends and her beloved cat back in Melbourne. But at least she has school to distract her now; a respite from the tension and sadness of home.

If you told her a month ago that come September she would being living with her mother in London, Ontario with her parent’s divorce papers in the mail she wouldn’t have believed you. Mind you, had you also told her that during that same month she would meet and fall in love with the most perfect boy, and then be cruelly ripped apart a week later, she probably would have laughed in your face at the idea. But life is life, so she sits here, waiting for whatever it throws at her next.

She’s snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of someone gently clearing their throat above her. She pulls her fingers away from where they were worrying the hem of her denim skirt and looks up to see a balding man wearing a sharp suit and a kind smile.

“You must be Tessa?” She nods and rises to her feet, glancing to his left where a petite girl with dark hair and blonde highlights is standing. “I’m Principal Browning, welcome to Rydell High School.” She shakes his outstretched hand, which he then uses to gesture towards the girl. “This is Gabrielle, she’ll show you around and help you get settled in.”

“Hi,” says Gabrielle, smiling broadly then rolling her eyes, “you can call me Gabby.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out her timetable, inspecting it closely before looking up at the clock on the wall of the office and shoving it back inside. “We better get going, we’ve got English Literature first. See you later Mr B.”

“Bye ladies, have a good first day. Remember, my door is always open if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” says Tessa, smiling at him before collecting her bag from the chair and following Gabby out into the busy hallway.

“I like your hair” says Tessa quietly, attempting to break the ice whilst they walk to class.

“Thanks!” Gabby says, beaming and running her fingers through it. “I did the highlights myself. I wasn’t sure if I could pull off the blonde, but I think it really makes my eyes pop, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” agrees Tessa enthusiastically, though she’s not really sure quite what that means, falling into step beside Gabby as they make their way to the English classroom. 

* * *

Scott is hiding, or at least he’s certainly trying to. He arrived at school unfathomably early and sat on a bench in the quad for a while, reading and enjoying those final moments of peace before it all kicks off again. He did this until his fellow students began to arrive, and after spotting Lexie’s car pull into the parking lot he made a hasty escape into the shadows, attempting to tuck himself away from the action until he sees his friends arrive.

His peace is disturbed far sooner than he feared it would be, though, as Lexie, Madi and their posse of peppy cheerleaders surround him before he has a chance to escape. They whip around their floral-scented hair and bat their dark and extended eyelashes at him, they get too close into his personal space as they fire question after unwanted question at him about how his summer was, and wasn’t the weather lovely, and did you listen to the new Taylor Swift album? Scott may be uninterested and unimpressed, but he’s certainly not rude, so he responds as politely and succinctly as he can, attempting not to encourage any further, unwanted attention – he fails, he always fails.

He breathes a small sigh of relief when he spots the tall form of Andrew appear out of a car in the parking lot, shrugging on his usual leather jacket, and running his fingers through his hair. The cheerleaders are still wittering on and giggling around him, completely unaware that he has spotted his escape route and is waiting for his chance to leave. Andrew catches his eye and smirks, shaking his head at Scott’s predicament. Scott is about to send a non-verbal _“for the love of god, help me!”_ Andrew’s way, but his lanky friend is intercepted by Zach, Matt and Tyler as he crosses the quad. They seem unreasonably excited for the start of school (but he supposes that being stuck at home with strict and overbearing parents can do that to you) launching themselves at Andrew and clapping him on the back in greeting.

“...wouldn’t you agree Scott?” asks Lexie in her slowly fading Quebecois accent.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Absolutely.” Scott has no idea what he’s just agreed with or to, as his attention is snapped back to the four girls gazing eagerly at him. They look expectant, like it’s his turn to say something, he just rubs at the back of his neck nervously. Then, finally, he is given an out.

“Hey look, there’s Scott,” calls Matt across the quad and upon hearing his name Scott looks up to see his friends making their way over towards him.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he says seeing their highly made-up faces fall in disgust at the sight of his friends. No one at school likes his group of friends much. Matt and Tyler are admittedly total pains in the ass; obnoxious, loud, and immature. But they’re also hilarious, and have been friends with Scott since they were kids. Zach is loud and confident, his personality falling somewhere between the goofiness of Tyler and the intimidating masculinity of Andrew. And Andrew, well Andrew is just plain old feared. Scott’s never really understood why, he’s unaware of there having been any incident in the past that could have caused this, but students and teachers alike give him a wide berth in the hallways. It’s probably the leather, and the smoking, and the bravado, though he doesn’t really see this as a just cause, but he’s not inclined to delve further there. All he knows is that he and Andrew get on well, respect one another, and have helped each other out in tough situations in the past. Once this year is over Andrew will skip town, head off into the big wide world and do great things, he just needs to make it to the end, and Scott is determined to try and help him achieve the huge potential he sees, but Andrew doesn’t.

He makes his way towards them with a slight swagger to his step, adjusting the collar of his leather jacket as he does so. He doesn’t know quite why he acts like this around them, wears a leather jacket like they do, styles his hair in a similar way, and joins them in their trouble making. Good old-fashioned peer pressure is what it is, and though he recognises it he still hasn’t quite found the courage or confidence to break free of their mould, so he had pulled on his jacket this morning on autopilot, after digging it out of the back of his closet, where it has been hanging since the last day of term before summer.

“We’ve made it!” declares Andrew as he hugs Scott and claps him on the back then turns to look up at the school building. “Seniors, finally!”

He follows Andrew’s gaze and he looks up at the main building of the school, seeing the familiar red and white banner that hangs there at the beginning of every school year. This year, though, that banner finally applies to them and there is something very satisfying in looking up and seeing ‘Welcome Back Seniors, Class of 2008’ fluttering in the late summer breeze.

“Finally,” Scott agrees. “Man, I can’t wait to get out of here, and did the summer vacation ever prove it!”

“Definitely,” agrees Andrew, nodding his head and crossing his arms over his chest, eyeing the school building with contempt.

_Oh yeah,_ thinks Scott, _we’re both_ so _done with this place._ His mind briefly flits to a persistent idle thought of leaving school next summer and hopping on a plane to Australia in the vague hope of finding a beautiful brown-haired girl with eyes that sparkle like the ocean.

“What did you get up to this summer, Scott?” Tyler’s eager voice pulls him from his thoughts.

“I just hung around at my parents’ place on the lake. The usual; swimming, drinking, being moaned at about stuff.” _Finding then losing the love of my life…_

“Meet any cute chicks?” Zach’s eyebrows jiggle suggestively at Scott as he asks. Scott glances away, clearing his throat nervously as he runs a hand through his gelled hair (that was a mistake, he’ll have to slip off into the bathroom to fix it later – he’s not used to using hair product, that had gone the same way as the jacket at the beginning of the summer).

“Yeah, I met a few chicks there,” _you liar, you only met one (the only one you want),_ “hung out a bit. It was good.”

“Any action?” pushes Zach in the obnoxious way only he can.

Scott aims a punch at his arm, “Not that I’d tell you about, Zachary. But, I did meet one girl who was pretty special…” He pauses, he’s tried really hard not to think too much about Tessa in the time since they parted a few weeks ago. He knew he’d probably never see her again, but was struggling to accept that reality. He would do anything to have her here with him in this moment, rather than all the way on the other side of the world. He realises he has paused for too long when he notices the other guys looking at him oddly, so he clears his throat and turns back to Andrew to try and steer the conversation away from himself.

“What did you do this summer?” he asks.

“I got a job, unlike you clowns. Bought some wheels.” Andrew gestures back towards the parking lot, proudly pointing out the rusty red car parked there. They make their way over to take a look, Zach lets out a whistle as he runs his hand over the dented bonnet and takes in the cracked headlights.

“What a hunk of junk” snorts Scott as he steps forwards to inspect it more closely, noticing the missing hubcaps and the dented bumper.

“Hey, I’ve got four more wheels than you’ve got dude,” bites back Andrew. Scott raises his hands in defensive acknowledgement of this. “I’m going to fix it up, then it’ll be a total chick magnet,” Andrew explains. Scott notices Andrew’s attention turn back to the quad, and they all follow it, spotting a familiar group of girls wearing matching pink jackets making their way towards the school building. At the front of the group is Kaitlyn, her loosely curled blonde hair sits just past her shoulders, large sunglasses hiding her eyes, tight black jeans hugging her hips. Andrew nods his head towards her, “and Queen K will be calling shotgun.” Scott rolls his eyes at this, though it goes unnoticed as the other boys laugh and pat Andrew on the back in encouragement. The bell rings and it’s a mad dash to find timetables in back pockets and go their separate ways to their first classes.

* * *

Tessa looks down at her lunch tray as she follows Gabby across the courtyard towards a table of girls, all of whom are wearing matching pink jackets that have ‘Pink Ladies’ embroidered on the back them. She feels a little nervous as Gabby introduces her to the group. Meagan is tiny but clearly pretty fierce, with short brown hair and a mischievous look about her. Ashley has long, straight blonde hair, sharp features, and possesses an air of maturity and experience that Tessa is simultaneously intimidated by and jealous of. However, they greet her with genuine smiles and move their trays to allow space for hers.

“And this is Kaitlyn,” says Gabby, placing her tray down on the table and indicating to Tessa to take the seat next to Meagan. Tessa smiles in greeting at the tall blonde and Kaitlyn lowers her sunglasses in response as she slowly sits down, narrowly avoiding Meagan’s apple, which for some reason is on the bench next to her.

“Tessa’s just moved here from Melbourne, Australia,” explains Gabby, taking her own seat next to Kaitlyn, who is still peering at Tessa with narrowed eyes, “she’s just turned 17 but has been bumped up a grade, so is a Senior like us.”

“Ah, a wonder from Down Under,” says Kaitlyn dryly, an edge of condescension to her voice. Tessa tries not to take this personally; a first read of Kaitlyn’s body language suggests to her that she clearly doesn’t want to be here and is completely bored by her surroundings. It surprises Tessa, then, when Kaitlyn further engages her in conversation. “How’s fair Canada treating you, eh?”

“Um, fine thanks,” replies Tessa shyly. Kaitlyn raises her eyebrows at Tessa’s reserved answer and small voice, her mouth twitching into a smirk. She feels under scrutiny by Kaitlyn, whose confidence and self-assuredness is quite intimidating. Tessa shifts uncomfortably in her seat. The conversation appears to have ended as Kaitlyn has returned to picking at her food with her plastic fork, so Tessa turns to Gabby and asks, “So, is there a dance club or something at this school?”

“Of course there is!” comes a bright and peppy voice from behind her. Tessa registers barely masked groans from Kaitlyn and Ashley as she turns to find a neatly French-manicured hand being held out to her. “Hi, I’m Madi,” she says, “welcome to Rydell High School. I’m on the dance team and I’m a cheerleader. Do you dance?” Tessa nods at her. “Fantastic. Try-outs are next week.” She hands Tessa a glittery red flyer detailing the information about dance and cheerleading trials, “I hope to see you there, I just know we’ll be the best of friends!” Tessa can’t help but return the exuberant girl’s smile as she slips the flyer into her notebook. 

Madi must take her smile as a cue for her to stay and chat because rather than go on her way to continue handing out flyers she promptly squeezes into the gap between her and Meagan and plonks herself down on the bench. Tessa hears Meagan’s apple fall to the floor with a soft thud, and the brunette huffs loudly as she dives under the table to rescue it. Tessa glimpses a look of utter disgust cross Kaitlyn’s face at the intrusion, but instead turns her focus to Madi, who is enthusiastically hurling a whole load of questions at her about dance and Australia.

Now, being the youngest of four means Tessa has perfected the art of skilful eavesdropping. Therefore, she is able to nod along and continue to engage Madi in conversation as well as simultaneously listen to the conversation that the rest of the Pink Ladies are having at the end of the table where they have put their heads together to observe them.

“So, what do you think of Tessa?” Gabby asks in a low voice.

“She seems… sweet,” says Ashley, non-committal.

“Do you think we might let her into the Pink Ladies?” questions Gabby. Tessa looks up past Madi’s shoulder and briefly meets eyes with Kaitlyn, who looks like she is running calculations in her head whilst sizing her up. She quickly focusses back on Madi, shrinking slightly under Kaitlyn’s scrutinising gaze.

“She’s too pure to be pink,” she huffs, and Gabby sighs in response. “But I’ll reserve judgement and take it into consideration.”

Tessa feels like her ears are literally burning. _‘Too pure to be pink’,_ what on earth does that mean? Tessa self-consciously looks down at her hands where they sit in her lap, once again playing nervously with the hem of her skirt. Does she mean she’s too plain and boring? She’s heard that one before. There was a girl at her old school in Melbourne who had once made fun of her for not wearing earrings, nail polish or make up, but Tessa had the last laugh when the girl got detention one day for wearing all three when none were allowed under the uniform policy of her strict private school. It was so weird for her to be at school and wearing her own clothes, having been used to wearing school uniforms her entire life. She had spent far too much time last night and this morning stressing out over what she was going to wear, and even though Gabby had assured her earlier that she looked great, she was now questioning that response.

“So, Tessa,” Kaitlyn says loudly, interrupting Madi mid-flow about her favourite colour of pom-poms. Tessa snaps her head up sharply, she had definitely zoned out for a moment and is startled to find five pairs of expectant eyes upon her. “What did you do this summer?” 

* * *

Scott sighs as he settles himself on the metal bench, he’s already feeling pretty fed up with the school and everyone in it (friends included) and it’s only 12pm on the first day back! He and his friends are wasting away their lunch hour as they always do, on the bleachers overlooking the track and Lacrosse field. Scott should really be talking to his teachers about supporting his university applications, but he has been easily steered here by Andrew instead. Matt’s fiddling with a toy water pistol ( _is he 12?_ ) whilst Tyler is surreptitiously attempting to crawl beneath one of the rows which is occupied by a group of girls. Zach is wetting himself with silent laughter as he goads him on, only to clear his throat loudly as Tyler finally reaches his destination. The girls spot him and stand with a shriek, walking away with looks of disgust at them all as Zach succumbs to wheezing laughter, his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. Tyler gets up and makes a lunge towards Zach, but is fortunately blocked by Matt, who has abandoned his water pistol and is making his way to the railings of the bleachers to lean over and yell out to the Lacrosse captain,

“What’s wrong, Brown? Not used to handling a piece of wood that length?”

There is a collective bark of laughter at this, both from the stands and some of his teammates on the field. Rob Brown just sneers and flips them off as he turns back to walk towards the centre of the field. Andrew brings his fingers to his mouth and wolf-whistles loudly, causing Tom to trip over his Lacrosse stick, eliciting more howls of laughter from the bleachers. Scott spots Coach Lauzon gesturing at them to knock it off, so he turns, climbs back to the top of the bleachers, and sits down to resume his sulking.

“So, Scott,” says Andrew, sitting down next to him as the rest of the boys gather and settle down to eat their lunches. Scott knows the question is coming, having let it slip from his big mouth earlier, and he knows they won’t let him brush over it again. “Tell us about this girl who was so special.”

* * *

“I spent some of the summer here in Canada, actually,” explains Tessa. “We had a week in Windsor for a family reunion, then a week on Lake Huron.” She glances up at the group, none of them are really paying attention (except Madi, who is staring intently with a slightly overeager smile on her face) despite being the ones to ask the question. She wants to have friends, she is desperate to be liked by these girls, so she swallows and blushes slightly as she admits, “I, uh, I met a boy there.”

This seems to pique their interest; four pairs of eyes swiftly turn towards her. Ashley’s blonde ponytail whips around so fast it smacks her in the face.

“A boy?” exclaims Gabby, leaning forward with wide eyes and a broad grin.

“Was he cute?” asks Meagan, putting down her half-eaten apple and turning towards Tessa.

“Um, yeah he was, and very sweet.” She cannot help the involuntary smile that pulls at her mouth, and feels her cheeks reddening further at her memories of him. “He saved my life.”

* * *

“So, there I was,” begins Scott, standing now and leaning nonchalantly against the railings, holding court over the boys around him, “minding my own business and enjoying the deserted lake shore, when suddenly I see this girl flailing in the water. Of course, I swim over and rescue her, and she’s all grateful and happy. Then, you know, we just chatted some and hung out for most of the rest of the week. Then she went home to Australia, and I came back to this dump and you losers.”

“Was she hot? Did you _get to know each other_?” asks Zach in a suggestive tone, wiggling his eyebrows.

Scott rolls his eyes, but feels the gaze of his friends on him. They practically worship him, lean on his every word and action. Sometimes he hates it, hates that he can be so easily led astray by them, saying and doing things he knows his mother would be ashamed of. But the rest of the time he loves it, craves it even. The validation and the power, the respect and reverence, even if it does come from this motley crew on the bleachers. He thrives off it, plays up to it, and hates himself just a little bit for doing so.

“It was just the normal stuff really,” he explains calmly, ignoring Tyler, who hasn’t blinked since he started talking. “Swimming, kicking a ball around, playing frisbee, hiking through the woods, making out at sunset.”

Zach whistles at the final admission, “Yeah, buddy!” he says, holding his hand up for a high five. Scott leaves him hanging, inwardly kicking himself for disclosing that information.

“We got friendly,” a grin pulls at his mouth involuntarily as his mind drifts to his memories of that one afternoon, “found an abandoned dock where we hung out.”

* * *

Tessa looks at the intrigued faces around the table, and begins to explain, “I was swimming and I got cramp in my legs. Just as I was starting to panic he shows up, splashing around and pulling me to safety. It was so heroic,” she sighs and rests her chin in her hand. Madi, Meagan and Gabby copy her actions, looking at her dreamily as she recounts her tale. “After that we spent the whole week together. We swam, hiked, watched the sunsets…”

“How about the sunrise?” interrupts Ashley, cocking an eyebrow as she slowly and deliberately peels her banana and takes a large bite. Tessa pauses for a beat, eyes widening slightly at Ashley’s brashness, then gulps uncomfortably. She doesn’t know these girls yet, and whilst she wants them to be her friends she doesn’t yet trust them enough to go into the full details of her summer exploits. She hasn’t told a soul about her afternoon with Scott at the abandoned dock, it still feels positively scandalous in her mind. She decides she won’t say anything about it, she doesn’t want to garner a reputation on her first day at a new school, or be perceived as some sort of slut or floozy. She decides to ignore Ashley and pivot around the question.

“It was beautiful there, and that whole week was just so romantic. I was devastated when I had to leave.” She sighs and looks down at her hands. “I haven’t heard from him since, gave him my email address and everything, but nothing.”

* * *

“Hung out, huh?” says Andrew, nudging Scott with his elbow. Scott snaps out of his brief reverie and looks up to see Matt and Zach practically salivating as they eagerly await more information. _Jeez_ , thinks Scott, _these boys need to get laid or go and lift some weights or something, burn off some testosterone_.

“Yeah,” he says pointedly, “hung out, talked, had conversations, got to know each other through the medium of speech!” He hopes this might bring an end to this particular line of questioning. What he and Tessa shared that afternoon at the dock was special and private, and between them only. They had agreed as much afterwards as they staggered out of the water and back towards their respective homes as the sun set on that perfect day.  He had to admit that barely a day went by when he did not think about it, wanted to yell it from the rooftops or throw it in his brothers’ faces when they teased him and treated him like a child, even though he had literally just turned 18. 

*

_They had hiked around the lake’s edge that morning and stumbled across a small, deserted bay with an old, abandoned dock jutting out into the water. They rolled up their trousers to paddle in the shallows, pleased to be rid of their heavy hiking shoes. Paddling led to kicking and splashing, which led to them shucking their clothes down to their swimsuits. They took it in turns to dive off the dock, Tessa even did a somersault, whilst Scott attempted some epic belly flops. As Tessa stood on the edge and raised her hands over her head in preparation for her next trick Scott grabbed her at a run, throwing them both into the water in a tangle of limbs and a shriek. They broke the water with laughter on their lips, which soon found one another’s. But these weren’t the chaste sunset kisses of the days before, and soon Scott found himself backed up against the dock post, both of them submerged to their shoulders in the shadowy water, their lips breaking apart in synchronised gasps as they each worked a hand past the waistband of the other’s bathing suit._

* 

“It was a great week,” he says, sounding slightly distant.

“Feeling all lovesick, Scotty?” teases Zach, batting his eyelashes as Tyler sniggers next to him. Scott clenches his jaw; Zach knows how to push his buttons.

“Nah,” he says, snapping himself out of his reminiscence and upping the bravado, “it was just a fling” _it wasn’t just a fling_ “you know, just like Canadian summers; short and hot!”

“Yeah it is, buddy,” says Andrew as he claps him on the back, rising from the bleachers as they hear the bell ringing for afternoon classes in the distance. They all shrug their jackets back on, fix their hair, and Matt returns his water pistol to his pocket as they trudge back towards the school building.

* * *

The bell goes, and the girls get up and clear their trays, grabbing their bags and books off the table beore they head out of the courtyard. As they make their way towards the side entrance to the school Gabby says to Tessa, “it sounds like you had a really wonderful summer?”

“ _That_ week certainly was,” replies Tessa, wistfully, “I really miss him.”

“What was his name?” asks Meagan.

“Scott,” replies Tessa, “Scott Moir.” She hears a snort, a cough and a muffled giggle behind her, and then what sounds like someone being shoved. At that moment Ashley trips into her line of sight.

“Well, he sure sounds like Prince Charming,” she says, smirking.

“Yeah,” adds Kaitlyn, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “you never know, maybe one day he’ll, appear, pumpkin carriage and all! Come on ladies.” Ashley and Meagan go to her heel and follow her as she turns and heads towards the science block. Tessa frowns, disconcerted but with a spark of butterflies in her stomach. 

“Do you really think so, Gabby?” she asks.

“Sure,” says Gabby, her voice wavering and a good octave higher than it was before, eyes not meeting hers, “come on Tess, we better get to class.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the switching perspectives didn't give you whiplash, they were necessary for the song/scene the chapter is based on. 
> 
> Comments are always lovely, but of course there is no obligation :)


	3. Look at me...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to the absolutely magical and fabulous @Miss_Six for helping me massively by reorganising a bit of dialogue that I just couldn't get to work right. Not only did she provide the final push I needed to get this chapter out, but she sparked a whole wave of creative thought about some of the next chapters!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one.

Tessa tugs at her skirt nervously, dropping one of her red and white pom-poms for about the fifth time in as many minutes. Madi picks it up and gives her a reassuring smile as she passes it back to her.

“Don’t be so nervous, Tessa, it’s just a pep rally. Besides, you’re the best dancer here!”

Tessa shrinks into herself bashfully at the praise from her friend, and by reflex goes to tuck her hair behind her ear – a nervous habit – and promptly hits herself in the face with her pom-pom. Madi giggles, loops her elbow through Tessa’s and gives her a small nudge. They both raise their chins and strut in formation out into the middle of the field with the rest of the cheerleaders.

The routine goes off without a hitch, much to Tessa’s relief. As they take their seats to the side of the field she finally looks around and take it all in. There are loads of students here; school pride must be a serious thing, especially when it comes to sports. Coach Lauzon is giving a rousing speech about ‘The Thunder’ to which everyone whoops and hollers at the mention of, she makes a mental note to ask Madi what that’s all about later. She glances over to the benches where the Lacrosse team is sitting, meeting the eyes of the boy on the end of the row nearest Coach Lauzon. He’s handsome, with bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. His red and white jersey fits snuggly across his muscular shoulders, his chiselled jaw accented by a soft smile, seemingly directed at her. She snaps her eyes away from his, glancing around behind her to see who he could be looking at, but everyone else’s attention is on Coach Lauzon, so she looks back at the boy. His eyes light up when she meets them, and he smiles at her again. _“Hi”_ he mouths at her. _“Hi”_ she mouths back, feeling pink beginning to rise in her fair cheeks. He glances away briefly, smile still on his lips, then lifts his head back to look at Coach Lauzon, who has his arm out, gesturing at him.

“…and we will be courageously led by our captain, Rob Brown” declares Coach Lauzon, the crowd erupting into cheers. Rob raises his hand to wave bashfully at them as they continue to cheer. Tessa can see that he is uncomfortable with the attention, so when the crowd dies down and Coach Lauzon resumes his rallying call she offers him a small, reassuring smile, which he returns with a blush and a glance down at his hands.

Later, when the rally is over and the crowds begin to disperse, Tessa wanders over to the side of the field to drop her pom-poms into her bag and take a drink of water. She pauses when she hears a quiet voice behind her,

“Hi.” His voice is soft and a little croaky, and she turns to find Rob standing behind her looking nervous, his hands shoved into the pockets of his letterman jacket.

“Hi,” she replies, lifting her head to look up into his face. He is very tall; she hadn’t noticed that when he was sitting down

“I’m Rob,” he introduces himself, offering a small wave that he seems to regret almost immediately, dropping his hand down to his side with a look of embarrassment.

“Tessa,” she replies, returning his wave with a smile, doing her best to put him at ease.

“You’re new here, right?” he asks. She nods in response. “How did you enjoy the rally?”

“It was great,” she says enthusiastically, “very loud, very exciting. Different than anything I ever went to at school back home.” He looks pleased about this.

“Your routine was really good,” he says, voice still a little rough, foot scuffing the ground. He’s nervous, it’s very cute. “Uh,” he clears his throat, “since you’re new in town and all, I was wondering if you’d like me to show you around? I could take you to my favourite coffee shop one day after school?” His question comes out quickly, like he’s practiced it a few times in preparation for this moment. Tessa’s eyebrows twitch upwards slightly, he’s bold for a boy who seems so intrinsically shy. She finds it endearing, and feels a thrill at being asked out so quickly after meeting someone.

“Sure,” she smiles, tucking her hair behind her ear, “that would be great.” He lets out a small sigh of relief. Past his shoulder Tessa can see Gabby across the field, waving at her. She excuses herself, assuring Rob she’ll catch up with him at school tomorrow, and hurries over to greet Gabby, who envelops her in a big hug.

“Did I do ok Gabby? I think I might have almost gone wrong at the start.

“Are you kidding?” asks Gabby incredulously. “You were amazing! I’ve never enjoyed a pep rally before, but I really did enjoy this one, thanks for convincing me to come.”

Tessa is astounded by Gabby’s genuine praise and enthusiasm, and is so pleased that she’s had a good time because of her. She’s fallen somewhat comfortably into the group of quirky ‘Pink Ladies’ over the past couple of weeks (though she notes that she has not yet been offered a matching jacket of her own). They don’t share a lot of classes, so they spend their lunch times together, normally listening to Kaitlyn complain about her parents, or the teachers, or passing judgement on anyone who came near their table in the courtyard. They also hear about Ashley’s latest conquest, or read the hilarious erotic messages she receives on various message boards and chat rooms. Meagan talks constantly about food and the latest thing one of her six dogs had got up to, and Gabby tries out various hairstyles and makeup techniques on everyone. Tessa is enjoying getting to know them, but she still feels a little like an outsider and, frankly, a bit of a fraud. 

“Even Kaitlyn enjoyed it” 

Tessa is speechless for a moment. She had hoped that Gabby would come to watch and had invited the rest of the Pink Ladies, but she was sure they would find something better to do than be at school beyond normal hours.

“She came to watch?” she asks, incredulously.

“Course she did, Tess. She’s actually a decent friend like that, she just has the weirdest ways of showing it sometimes.”

“I thought she didn’t like me,” mutters Tessa, feeling rather confused.

“Truth be told, I don’t think Kaitlyn actually _likes_ anyone much,” chuckles Gabby. “But honestly, if she didn’t like you she wouldn’t give you the time of day. You’ve seen her with Madi and the other cheerleaders, right?”

Tessa thinks about this. She’s definitely never seen Kaitlyn engage any of the other cheerleaders in conversation, and their appearance in her peripheral vision, let alone in front of her, normally results in sighs, scoffs or agitated comments.

She and Gabby chat away as they make their way towards the parking lot; Meagan has offered her a ride home after the rally as they live in a similar part of town. They are swiftly joined by the other three, appearing as a small pack out of nowhere, Kaitlyn coming right up beside her.

“Good job kid,” she says, sounding sincere, “I could really feel that school spirit!” Tessa glances sideways at her as they continue to walk along, not entirely convinced by her good mood, but she is walking along with a genuine-seeming smile on her face and Tessa feels like she can relax. So, she is taken aback a few minutes later when Kaitlyn grabs her wrist and pulls her away from the direction of Meagan’s car. “We’ve got a surprise for you,” she says mischievously. 

* * *

Scott looks up as the petite figure of Meagan suddenly appears beside Tyler, who jumps in surprise when she pinches his side, laughing. Tyler puts an arm around her shoulders in greeting, but she’s not paying attention, instead she looks directly at Scott.

“Hi Scott,” she says in a sing-song voice, a wide smile on her face and a devious glint in her eye.

“Hey, Meagan.” He replies, curiously. “What’s up?”

“We’ve got a surprise for you!” Her face and expression are full of mischief; _she (or they) are up to something_ , he thinks.

He furrows his brow, and stands up from where he was leaning against the car bonnet, “Oh yeah?” he asks, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yeah” announces Kaitlyn, making her way into the group and pulling the arm of another girl behind her. She steps aside and drags the girl in front of her. Scott freezes when he meets gorgeous green eyes, puzzled at first, then going wide as recognition dawns in them.

Tessa.

* * *

She hears herself let out a small gasp of surprise when she sees Scott standing in front of her. Of all the things she thought Kaitlyn was going to surprise her with, this one hadn’t even crossed her mind. His shocked expression probably matches her own, she thinks, though she feels the pull of a smile at her lips as his fall open in surprise, bringing back amusing and (embarrassingly) sensual memories of their meeting just a few weeks ago. There’s a beat and she realises that they’re still both standing there, frozen, staring at one another, not saying anything. She looks away first and a small frown forms on his face, she darts her eyes to her left to see Kaitlyn and Meagan looking between the two of them as if watching a tennis match. She looks back to Scott, he’s started opening and closing his mouth like a fish, just like he had in his sodden clothes on the lake shore a few weeks back.

She uses his confused silence to take him in properly; he looks very different from the summer. Casual cotton trousers and loose shirts have been swapped for tight black jeans, a fitted white t-shirt and a tailored leather jacket. His hair, which a few weeks ago had been fluffy and slightly sun-bleached, was now longer and slicked back in a similar style to the other boys with him. He still hasn’t moved, so she decides to take the plunge and break the ice first.

“Hi Scott,” it comes out much quieter than she intended, betraying her own awkwardness and embarrassment at the situation. 

The sounds of her voice seems to snap him out of it, and he looks her in the eye again before glancing around him at their audience. She notices his ears and neck start to flush a little. One of his friends, a tall boy with similarly dark hair, is standing with his arms folded and eyebrows raised. When Scott sees him watching a mask suddenly falls over him; his weight shifts onto his back foot, one hand going into the pocket of his jeans whilst the other comes up to straighten the collar of his jacket. When he opens his mouth the familiar softness of his voice that she thought she had so clearly remembered is no longer there.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see you here, Tessa” he says, a hint of sharpness to his voice. She’s taken aback by his tone, and feels herself physically flinch at it, but she tries not to immediately jump to the conclusion that her reappearance in front of him is some major inconvenience. He must be shocked – she knows she is – and is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“My Mother and I decided to stay in Canada,” she explains, matter-of-factly. “I didn’t expect to see you here either. Small world, eh?” she punctuates her last few words with a small smile and a shrug of her shoulders, trying to lighten the tone. Instead, his eyes narrow. She’s struggling to read the emotions in his face – it’s certainly not showing the joy and elation she hoped it would when she imagined the possibility of their future reunion.

He seems to have reverted to staring at her in confusion, shaking his head in disbelief. Tessa feels uncomfortable now, something she was sure she could never feel in his presence. She looks down and starts to prod at a stone on the ground, scuffing her white trainer in the dirt of the parking lot. She feels embarrassed; not only is Scott not greeting her in the manner she had hoped, but there are also eight other people witnessing this strange and awkward encounter, and seemingly enjoying it. One of his friends, however, clearly senses their growing tension and embarrassment and opts to break the silence.

“Hi, I’m Zach,” a third boy with dark hair swaggers forwards towards her. She looks up at him, he is taller than Scott and looks a bit older than him too, with a significant 5 o’clock shadow around his jaw. “You’re Tessa? Is that what Scott said your name was?”

“Um, yes.” Her voice is small and wary.

“And how do you know fine Scotty here?” he asks, draping his arm over his friend’s shoulders and patting him on the chest. She notices Scott’s jaw clench, and his eyes close as his head drops down. 

“We met at the lake this summer,” she explains matter-of-factly.

A look of dawning realisation creeps over Zach’s face, and a knowing smile begins to form on his lips. She hears Scott let out a small groan under his breath as Zach’s smile reaches his ears and his head darts back and forth to look between the two of them, and his begins to tap his hand on Scott’s chest in what she can only describe as glee.

“Scotty! _This_ is the girl from the _lake_?” Zach is practically vibrating next to Scott, who is now looking skywards and shaking his head, slowly.

Tessa feels her breathing stutter and her blood start to run cold in her veins as she watches the heads of Scott’s band of leather-clad friends snap toward them. The tallest boy still has his arms crossed but his eyebrow is now raised at her as he looks her up and down in approval, a smirk eventually forming. She feels her forehead crease in response to his unwanted gaze. Then, to make matters even worse, she hears a whistle from the shorter boy standing with his arms around Meagan, who looks like he could start drooling at any moment.

Her mind is suddenly inundated with questions. _Do they know? Has he told them? Why are they looking at me like that? Do they know exactly what we got up to at the lake this summer?_ She notices Zach lick his lips out of the corner of her eye, and an overwhelming feeling of disgust and betrayal envelopes her and she whips her head around to glare accusingly at Scott.

Scott, who she thought she could trust with her heart and her body. Scott, who has been the one who wanted to talk for as long as possible each evening. Scott, who had had to physically remove her from himself each night in order to be home by curfew. Scott, who was now standing in front of her looking ashamed. Scott, whose eyes are flitting over her face, as he tries to read her expression. Scott, who is now continuing his impression of a goldfish as he attempts to find the right words in response to what has just happened. Scott, who still hasn’t said anything, whilst his friends and hers start to murmur and giggle behind their backs, yet right in front of their faces.

His eyes finally stop frantically moving and meet hers, widening slightly in fear? Shock? Apology? She cannot read them because all she can see is red and the wet pooling of tears in the corners of her own eyes. Adrenaline courses through her as she fixes him with her best glare, wills her tears not to fall and her voice not to crack as she puffs out her chest, lifts her chin and says, as coolly as possible,

“Fuck you, Scott.”

Then she turns on her heal and runs out of the circle of people in the parking lot, the sound of their surprised reactions muffled as the wind whooshes past her ears. She can’t go far, and she can hear Gabby calling after her as she runs towards Meagan’s car, but she doesn’t stop or turn around. When she finally makes it to the yellow Beetle, she kicks the tyre with a shriek of frustration and then collapses against the passenger side door, her head in her hands, tears flowing down her cheeks. Gabby catches up to her, Ashley right behind her, and they haul her off the dusty ground before Gabby pulls her into a hug.

“I…I don’t understand,” Tessa sniffs, trying to regain her composure, “ _that_ is not the Scott Moir I met at the lake.”

“Yeah, that was weird,” agrees Ashley. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that quiet or lost for words, except for when his mouth is otherwise occupied.” Ashley smirks and Gabby sends her a warning glare with a shake of the head, as Tessa begins to cry harder.

“Hey, Tess, don’t cry.” Gabby pulls her back into a hug. “He’s a boy, just a stupid, dumb boy who doesn’t see what’s standing right in front of him. And that’s _his_ problem!” She pulls back and wipes the tears that are falling down her face away with her thumbs, offering a small smile before asking, gently, “Everyone is coming back to mine for a sleepover tonight. You should come. What do you say?" 

Tessa doesn’t particularly want to go home and explain her tears to her mother. Plus, she’s actually being invited to a Pink Ladies sleepover, and that’s a serious opportunity she’s not going to miss because of an idiot boy who has now broken her heart twice. She nods her head and sniffs, wiping her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her cardigan.

“Come on,” says Gabby, and she and Ashley loop their arms through Tessa’s, “let’s go find the others.”

45 minutes later the girls are wearing their pyjamas (Tessa has borrowed a pair of pink silky bottoms and a matching lace-trimmed camisole top from Ashley) and are sitting in Gabby’s bedroom, a bottle of cheap desert wine and a cigarette being passed between them. Tessa eyed the cigarette sceptically as it was lit; one of her uncles smoked like a chimney and had a constant hacking cough to prove it. Once Meagan had shoved it in her face, however, she felt like she couldn’t refuse. The first drags had made her cough (earning a snort of laughter from Kaitlyn) but she doesn’t refuse it the second time it comes to her. She manages to cough less this time, but the taste and sensation don’t become any more enjoyable. She does refuse the wine though; she’d gotten sick off some cheap champagne last Christmas and she just can’t stomach it quite yet.

As the other girls continue to pass the bottle around, and laugh at Meagan as she sings along to a TV commercial, Tessa slips into the bathroom to brush the taste of the cigarette out of her mouth. She takes her time, pausing to look at herself in the mirror afterwards. She always feels quite plain and boring in comparison to the Pink Ladies. She doesn’t own any makeup, despite being a dancer – her friend back in Australia, Joannie, always used to do her makeup for her before shows. She stares at her reflection critically; another cheerleader only had lipstick in her bag when they first arrived for the rally tonight, so Madi had swiped that over her lips and then proceeded to rub a little into her cheeks. The shade really didn’t work with her skin tone, and her normally vibrant eyes looked dull in comparison to her rosy cheeks. She reaches for a washcloth to wash her face and when she shuts off the tap she realises she can hear them talking about her. Quietly, she kneels down by the door, and squints to look through the keyhole into Gabby’s bedroom.

“A few puffs of a cigarette and she’s already off scrubbing her tongue,” Kaitlyn scoffs, lighting another cigarette and leaning back against Gabby’s headboard.

“I’m surprised she went for the cigarette over the wine, to be honest,” mumbles Meagan round a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, reaching for the bottle off Gabby. “I’d always choose wine.”

Ashley looks up from where she’s sitting with her laptop on her lap and her blackberry in one hand, reaching for the bottle from Gabby with the other as she hums in agreement. “I bet she’d be a great drunk,” she says. “I mean, we’ve seen her dance now, we know what she’s capable of doing with her body. I bet if you got some alcohol in her she’d just totally chill out and let go, the boys would be all over her and she’d be the life of the party.”

“I doubt anyone that dull could be the _life_ of the party, Ash” counters Kaitlyn, “she’s just so uptight and prissy. No alcohol, no makeup, no piercings, boring clothes. The kid is dull, a complete plain Jane. Smarty-pants will skip off to university…”

“You don’t have to be mean about it,” Gabby says, but Kaitlyn has picked up steam and continues like she didn’t hear the admonishment.

“…She’ll get a perfectly vanilla boy who will marry her in the local church hall and sweep her off her feet for boring missionary sex twice a month until they pop out their 2.4 children and go maple syrup tasting for fun at the weekends. She’ll bake pies and pack her husband’s lunch and spend the day skipping round the house with her feather duster…”

“Kaitlyn! Stop.” Gabby elbows her in the side and glares, to which Kaitlyn shrugs and gives the others a look which says, _you know I’m right_. Ashley chuckles from behind her laptop, while Meagan stops chewing her cookie midway through and darts her eyes between Kaitlyn and Gabby, looking uncomfortable.

“Jeez, Kait, why do you have to be such a bitch? She probably heard all of that you know, the door isn’t that thick!” Gabby gestures at the bathroom door in exasperation, guilt and worry written on her face.

“Like I care,” shrugs Kaitlyn.

“Scotty looked pretty stunned to see her though,” says Meagan, in a more hushed tone now that Gabby has pointed out the fact that they can probably be heard, “I wonder what really went down there. I’ve never seen him lost for words like that, or his ears turn that colour.”

Tessa sits back on her heels and away from the door and feels the hurt spread in her chest as though she’s been on the receiving end of several falling icicles. It’s never nice to be gossiped about behind your back, but it feels even worse when you are so clearly within earshot. Her first instinct is to start crying again, but she thinks this will probably just give Kaitlyn more fuel. Instead, the steels herself and decides she is going to prove her wrong. She takes a deep breath and nods at herself in encouragement in the mirror, and then grabs Gabby’s needle from the jar where it is sterilising, and a pair of earrings that sit next to the sink. She opens the door and marches into the room and over to the bed where Gabby is sitting next to Kaitlyn. They all suddenly stop talking; Meagan, Gabby and Ashley exchange guilty glances, whilst Kaitlyn maintains her look of cool indifference as she makes eye contact with Tessa.

“Will you pierce my ears please, Gabby?” asks Tessa.

“Sure,” agrees Gabby, smiling enthusiastically at Tessa’s determined expression, “I’ll just go grab some ice.” She steers Tessa into the chair at her vanity and slips out of the room to go down to the kitchen. Tessa looks into this mirror to see Kaitlyn reflected in it too, still watching her. She levels her best stare at her, as if to say, _I’ll show you_ and raises one eyebrow as if in challenge. Kaitlyn’s eyes narrow at her and then turn back to the TV. Tessa feels a shot of adrenaline race through her; Tessa 1, Kaitlyn 0.

Despite the ice, it really fucking hurts! Tessa does her best not to flinch away as Gabby does the left ear, and chokes back a retch when she feels a drop of blood hit her shoulder from the right. The saline solution Gabby swabs over them gently afterwards stings something crazy, but it’s worth it when she brings up Gabby’s hand-held mirror to see fire gleaming in her eyes and silver sparkling from her earlobes.

Gabby offers to show her how to do her eye makeup, to which Tessa readily agrees, and they sit in front of the mirror giggling along as Meagan reads the messages Ashley is writing out loud over her shoulder. Kaitlyn sits haughtily in the chair in the corner and finishes off the bottle of wine. Tessa knows she’s probably pissed off with her and frankly she doesn’t care. She called her out and now she is proving her wrong, and it feels thrilling.

30 minutes and another two shared cigarettes later they hear the rattle of an engine across the street and then the honk of a horn. Gabby leaps towards the window, Kaitlyn right behind her, and pulls back the curtains a fraction and peers out into the dark night.

“What are they doing here?” she squeaks. “My parents will flip if they see them!” Tessa looks over at the empty wine bottle and four cigarette ends in a chipped cereal bowl and wonders what sort of house rules are actually in place at Gabby’s. Meanwhile, the other girls rush over to take a look out the window too. Tessa hangs back, finishing off her left eye so that it matches the right. She hears a wolf whistle and the other girls giggle. After a few moments, she gets up from the floor and goes over to join them at the window.

* * *

 

“Andrew, take a left here. It’s the white house up on the right beyond the mailbox.” Matt holds onto the seat in front of him as Andrew follows his instructions, taking the turning a little too fast. They come to a rather jolting stop outside the house.

“First thing you need to get sorted on this garbage can is those damn breaks, Andrew” says Scott, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah yeah, I know,” sighs Andrew as he peers up at the house and honks the horn.

“Dude, her parents are probably in. Keep it down!” chides Matt, nervously.

“How else will I get their attention?” asks Andrew with a shrug of the shoulders. “See, look it worked.” Andrew points to the upstairs window. Scott looks up and sees Gabby and Kaitlyn’s heads sticking out from behind the curtain. Zach lets out a wolf whistle and he hears giggling coming from the open window. Kaitlyn disappears suddenly, and Ashley and Meagan take her place and reach their hands out to wave at the boys down below. Tyler blows Meagan a kiss, which she reaches out to dramatically grab, a bright smile on her face. Tyler, Matt and Zach wander closer to the house, conversing with the girls in loud, ineffective whispers.

Scott is still sitting in the passenger seat, ‘sulking’ as Andrew had described it earlier, though he’s sure his mother would have accused him of ‘brooding’. He still feels so incredibly angry at himself for the way he reacted earlier when Tessa was thrust in front of him in the parking lot. He didn’t want to be here right now, he just wanted to go home so that he could punch a pillow in the privacy of his bedroom, or maybe knock a puck around in the garage, despite the late hour.

There’s a sudden commotion over by the house and Scott looks back up to see Kaitlyn climbing out of the window and shimmying down the drainpipe on the outside of the house. Andrew shifts in the driving seat next to him as Zach reaches out to grab Kaitlyn around the waist and help lower her down to the ground, and she flashes him a smile in thanks that causes Andrew to tighten his grip on the fraying steering wheel. Scott’s attention is diverted away though, as he notices further movement in the window above and he looks up to see inexplicably sharper-looking green eyes staring him down. He straightens his back and begins to rise from his seat as he meets her gaze. He attempts a wave in her direction, but she continues to stare, something unreadable in her unblinking eyes. Suddenly they widen and move to his left, just as he registers someone is approaching his side of the car. He tears his eyes away and looks to his right; Kaitlyn is strutting in their direction, straightening the waistband of her form-fitting cropped trousers. When she reaches the car door she glances briefly at Andrew, but speaks to him instead.

“Hey Scotty,” she says with a cheeky grin. Scott hears Andrew growl under his breath.

“Hi again, Kaitlyn. I hope you’re not bringing me more surprises this evening?”

“I dunno,” says Kaitlyn, raking her eyes over his body without a smidge of subtlety before bending at the hip to lower her head and mutter in his ear, “more could be arranged.” She smirks at Andrew then bares her teeth, and Andrew’s jaw clenches and his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.

Scott sighs and purses his lips together. “Excuse me” he says calmly but forcefully as he reaches to open the car door. Kaitlyn jumps out of the way with an edge of disappointment in her face, but hops into the passenger seat in his place and leans over towards Andrew, threading her fingers through his hair and tugging it to pull his mouth towards her for a kiss. He stiffens at the unexpected action, but quickly relaxed, returning the kiss and moaning into her mouth, which Scott takes that as his cue to turn away and walk towards the others as swiftly as possible. As he reaches them he hears the loud revving of the engine and the squealing of tyres, and he turns to watch as the car pulls away and heads off down the street, Kaitlyn and Andrew still entwined in the front seat.

“Hey!” yells Zach, walking towards the spot the car once was with his hands raised in a gesture of frustration and confusion. They hear giggles from above and the sound of the window slamming shut. Scott whips his head up in time to see a final flash of steely green eyes before the curtains are pulled once more.

“Damn it, I hope Gabby doesn’t get into trouble with her folks.” Matt looks worriedly up at the window, but the curtains do not move.

“Ah well,” shrugs Tyler, “want to go get some food? I’m starving.”

Scott declines and his friends set off towards the McDonalds a few blocks away. He watches their retreating forms as they walk further into the darkness before turning to look back up at the window, where the lights have now dimmed. With a sigh of resignation, he trudges off towards home; it’ll be a long night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I got distracted by an idea for another fic, of which nearly 11k words are drafted. I promised myself I would finish this, and I finally got around to editing this chapter today. Fair warning, the next chapter is only 2/3 way written, and the remaining 5 are merely brief bullet points, so it may be a while - but I will do it! Come and shout at me if I don't.
> 
> Comments are lovely, should you feel inclined to leave one :)


	4. Hopelessly devoted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My head is saying fool forget him,  
> My heart is saying don't let go

He decides to walk home rather than wait for the bus or call his mother to come and get him; it’ll take a couple of hours, but he needs the fresh air to clear his head as he tries to fathom what on earth happened this evening. As he walks out of the suburbs and along the main road towards Ilderton, the street lamps run out and only moonlight illuminates his way. He pulls the collar of his jacket up towards his ears and the lapels over his chest as the crisp night air begins to swirl around him.

An empty beer can keeps him company for about ten minutes, but he accidentally kicks it harder than intended when the image of Tessa’s icy stare towards him out of the window flashes back into his mind, and the can bounces off an errant pebble and spins off into the ditch on the roadside. The rest of his walk descends into silence – aside from the one or two trucks that pass him on the road – and he is left alone with just his thoughts for company. It’s the kind of company that soon becomes unwanted, like being followed home by a stray dog that’s covered in fleas and whines every few paces until you either pick it up in your arms and carry it home, or you scare it off and run away while it cowers in the shadows. Scott doesn’t know what he wants to do with these feelings right now, but he has little other choice than to let them hash it out in his mind.

Tessa. She’s in Canada – permanently it seems – and has somehow ended up exactly where he is. He should be thrilled that their paths have crossed again so soon – isn’t that everything he wanted? What does he want?

Scott had come to the realisation some time ago that he isn’t interested in the clingy cheerleaders, or by the sexy aloofness of Kaitlyn, or her quirky group of ‘Pink Ladies’. They’ve all been interested in him, constantly clamoured for his attention at one time or another, but he has never returned their feelings or their attention. To be honest, he had found himself questioning exactly what sort of girls he did like, and it had frustrated him no end. He’d never come across anyone who had remotely piqued his interest; not at school, not in his community, not at the rink. He’d summoned a lot of courage one day not so long ago to consciously look at and consider the _boys_ around him instead, wondering if he was simply looking for duck eggs in the hen house, but he’d come away empty handed from that too (though it had taken him a few weeks to look at Andrew again without feeling his ears starting to burn).

His family’s gentle teasing at the beginning of the summer hadn’t been intentionally hurtful, but it had stung somewhat. He hadn’t so much as held hands with or kissed the cheek of someone he wasn’t related to. It had bothered him constantly, ate away at him, caused him to very seriously worry about what his future might hold, that he had nearly reached the milestone of adulthood and lacked any kind of experience or understanding. He knew he wanted to get married, to have a few kids, to teach them to ride their bikes and to swim in the lake in the summer. He knew it was unusual for a then 17-year-old to recognise these things about themselves, and he would certainly never admit them to his friends, but he felt like he had dreams that would go forever unrealised because he would never find someone to achieve them with.

That is, until the fateful day he dove into Lake Huron to rescue Tessa.

Tessa, who was kind and gentle, shy but confident, beautiful in looks and personality. She was genuine, the real deal, everything he didn’t know he needed and more. They had clicked on every level; intellectually, emotionally, physically, and for Scott, suddenly everything else had clicked and fallen into place too. During that magical week, whenever he thought about his hypothetical future all he saw was Tessa; she had become the embodiment of his dreams and desires. He had fallen hard and incredibly fast, in a way that utterly consumed him.

But then the week ended, and he thought that she was gone, far away on the other side of the world without a way of contacting him, and he had gone and fucked up his way of contacting her. The pain he had felt in those final few weeks of the summer vacation had been the worst he had experienced in his life, and his return to school (and the unwanted attentions of the female student body) made the lingering ache even greater. But it had focussed him, had made him realise that he needed to go beyond his hometown and the people he knew there, he needed to venture out into the big wide world to find new people and perhaps find himself too. So, he had thrown himself into studying and writing his university applications, because that was the only way to do it. He let it become his sole focus (except for his pining for Tessa) and let it take up his time and energy, to the point where it became all-consuming and he could concentrate on nothing else.

So, when Kaitlyn shoved Tessa right in front of him a few hours ago he had pretty much gone into shock. He had somehow managed to get himself to the acceptance stage of grief, but Tessa’s sudden and unexpected appearance in front of him made him feel like he had been plunged into the Styx and he was seeing her ghost. He barely remembers the exchange, only the sound of water crashing on the shore in his ears, and the gaze of their friends on them. He doesn’t remember what he had said, or what he had done, he just remembers her telling him to fuck himself and her brown ponytail whipping around as she ran away with tears in her eyes. He was so embarrassed and felt terrible for making her cry, meanwhile his friends seemed to find it hilarious.

He had made to go after her, but Gabby had stepped in front of him and puffed out her chest to try and make herself look bigger than the tiny waif she was, pointed her finger up towards his face and said with a look of shocking severity,

“Don’t!”

So, he hadn’t. Gabby and Ashley ran after her into the maze of cars, and Meagan had followed a few minutes later after pecking Tyler on the cheek with a giggle.

“You know,” scolded Kaitlyn, arching one shapely eyebrow “when I bring gifts, I normally expect people to say thank you and then play with them nicely.”

Scott’s lip had twitched into an involuntary snarl, to which Kaitlyn had grinned maliciously.

“I’ll see you around, Scotty.”

She brushed his cheek with one finger – which left him with the feeling that a slug had just slithered across his face – and turned to leave their group, fluttering her eyelashes in Andrew’s direction before she went on her way.

Looking back on this now, Scott concludes that yes, for a moment there he had gone into shock. And he was truly appalled at the way his mind and body had betrayed him and what is instinctive reaction to the situation had been. And now he’s so embarrassed and angry with himself that he wants to simultaneously hide under his comforter for the rest of time and punch a hole in the nearest wall.

He sees the sign announcing his arrival into Ilderton loom in the distance, and he begins to make a mental list of things he needs to do to make this right, to fix the mess that he is responsible for. By the time he lets himself quietly into the house and sneaks out into the garage he is repeating the list over and over to himself. It goes as follows:

  1. Apologise; apologise for losing her email address, apologise for not getting in touch with her, apologise for reacting the way he did at the rally, apologise for not apologising right away, apologise for not chasing after her.
  2. Explain; explain why he acted the way he did, explain that he was in shock, explain that the guy at the rally is not the guy she met at the lake.
  3. Be you; don’t be a douche, don’t be so influenced by your friends. Be the boy you were this summer, because that’s the real you – he’s the guy you _both_ like!
  4. Get her back; well, this depends on how stages one and two go, and he doesn’t know how yet, but he’s already well aware that his life without Tessa in it is far too sad and empty. He’s somehow, for some reason, been awarded a second chance, and he can’t fuck it up now!



He shakes his head at himself, he sounds like a lovesick teenager (which, he supposes, he actually is). So he picks up his brother’s old hockey stick (his own long ago shattered) and starts slapping pucks, pebbles and various tennis and squash balls into the bags of compost neatly stacked against the far wall, finally allowing his mind to clear, finally stopping when his fingers and toes go numb from cold and fatigue.

* * *

Gabby pulls her curtains back across the window with a shake of her head, and Tessa settles back down on the floor in front of the mirror.

“I don’t know what to do with that girl,” sighs Gabby as she sits down on her bed and reaches over to her nightstand to pick up Kaitlyn’s phone. “She’s jumped into Andrew’s car and driven off into the night without her phone or her purse. How is she supposed to get back home?”

“Oh, she’s not going home, Gabs,” snorts Ashley, grabbing Kaitlyn’s phone off her and attempting the passcode a few times, before dropping it on the bed with a huff. Tessa watches them quietly in the reflection of the mirror. “Kaitlyn’s a big girl, she can take care of herself, don’t stress.”

“I know, I know she is. I just worry about her, I don’t want her to do anything reckless or that she regrets.”

“I don’t think anyone would regret _doing_ Andrew,” replies Ashley, a shit-eating grin on her face, picking up her laptop again and typing away furiously.

“Well, I wouldn’t know, would I Ash?” Gabby folds her arms and looks at her friend on the bed pointedly. Ashley just smirks, hits the return key on her keyboard and shuts the laptop, swinging her legs off the bed she holds her hand out to Meagan.

“Let’s go grab some popcorn and a movie?”

Gabby watches them leave, and once her bedroom door is shut she wanders over and tentatively sits herself down on the floor next to Tessa.

“I’m guessing you heard us from the bathroom?” she asks. Tessa doesn’t meet her eyes, instead focussing intently on outlining her lips with a nude pencil, wiping away her mistakes with her finger and sighing. “Here,” Gabby reaches for the pencil in her hand and Tessa scoots around to face her.

“Why does she hate me?” she asks, quietly.

Gabby’s hand pauses, the lip pencil hanging from her fingers. She chews on her own lip before bringing the pencil back to Tessa’s. “She doesn’t hate you.”

Tessa’s scepticism must clearly show on her face because Gabby sits back on her heels and brings her hand up to rub at the back of her neck nervously, clearly thinking carefully about what to say.

“Look, this isn’t really my information to share, but maybe it’ll give you some insight. Kaitlyn has a tough life, and a huge chip on her shoulder. She has two older half siblings from her dad’s first marriage who are, like, 12 and 15 years older than her or something. They’re both married, have kids, and are super successful. One’s a surgeon and the other is a university professor. Kait was the baby of the family for ages, then about four years ago her mom had an affair and wound up pregnant with her little brother. Her dad left and now lives in Vancouver and has absolutely nothing to do with her mother, so she only sees him a couple of times a year when he decides it’s worth paying for her to fly out. Her mom married the new guy, and he’s actually really great and makes an effort with her. But she can’t forgive him or her mother for forcing her father away.

Her mom and her step-dad had another baby last year, and unfortunately, she was born with a really serious medical condition and she’s constantly in and out of hospital and requires round the clock care. It really breaks Kaitlyn’s heart, because as much as she hates her mother, she absolutely adores her younger siblings, and she really struggles with those conflicting feelings around all that. Her mom and step-dad really do try, but their lives are so stressful with Lily being so ill, so Kaitlyn just gets left to it. I expect you can imagine what the stress and tension is like in their house sometimes, it can be a pretty toxic place.”

Tessa nods slowly, dumbfounded.

“She doesn’t hate you, Tess. She’s jealous of you, though she would never ever admit to it. You’re smart, you’re pretty, your life is normal and simple…” ( _if only you knew, Gabby_ ) “…you’ll succeed and go places, you have your mood and emotions in check. Kaitlyn; her confidence is destroyed. Underneath _all_ that exterior she’s a kid who’s constantly compared to her father’s other, hugely successful children, a kid who’s left to fend for herself at home (physically and emotionally) and is frequently thrust into a role of responsibility to care for her little brother while her sister is in a hospital in Toronto. It also doesn’t help that last year a rather nasty and very persistent rumour went around that Caleb was actually _her_ kid. She didn’t react well to that, at all; it got real nasty and she and a couple of other kids ended up getting suspended for a few days.”

Tessa’s eyes are wide in shock. She opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

“I shouldn’t really have told you all of that, but there you go. Kaitlyn and I have been friends since kindergarten, I’ve seen everything slowly unravel over the past few years. Her life is tough, and I know (and _she_ knows) that she shouldn’t take it out on others, but at the moment that’s how she copes. Cut her some slack, try not to take it personally, hopefully at some point she’ll let you in and you’ll see how good a person she really is. She needs the school year to be over, to turn 18 and head off to university in another province or in the States and never look back.”

Tessa nods dumbly, finding she has little response to Gabby’s insight into Kaitlyn’s life. She finally thinks of words to string together in a sentence when the door bangs open and Ashley and Meagan come charging back in, giggling and holding multiple bags of popcorn (a slightly burnt odour coming from them that seems synonymous with the microwaved stuff) and a teetering stack of DVDs. Just like that, Tessa and Gabby’s heart-to-heart is over.

They quickly agree to watch ‘Legally Blonde’, as none of them are in the mood for horror (‘The Ring’) or heartbreak (‘A Walk to Remember’). Tessa’s head is still spinning as Gabby loads the DVD player and Meagan switches the lights off, and she excuses herself from the room, grabbing Gabby’s fluffy bathrobe from the back of her door on her way out, telling the others to carry on and start watching as she’s seen the movie many times before.

The cool evening air hits her sharply as she carefully and quietly opens the back door, and she pulls it to with a gentle click before wandering out across the grass towards a wooden love seat at the edge of the yard. She breathes in and out deeply for several counts of eight after she sits down, closing her eyes and attempting to stave of the anxiety that she can slowly feel taking over her body. She feels herself relax after a moment, having given her mind time to stop spinning, and then finds herself shivering against the cold. The bath robe is still in her hand, so she hastens to put it on and pull it tightly around herself.

A black squirrel quietly scurries across the garden and up a nearby tree and she watches it for a moment before sighing heavily and dropping her head into her hands. It’s been quite an eventful few weeks, and she honestly feels like her brain is just screaming ‘information overload!’ at her whilst a warning signal blares in the background. She feels too much, and nothing at all, her conflicting emotions seemingly having concatenated into an overall numbness that is spreading from her heart to her brain, impairing her. She tries to compartmentalise, break her anxieties and feelings down into more manageable chunks, mainly so she doesn’t spiral.

Firstly, she thinks about what Gabby just told her about Kaitlyn, and she suddenly feels desperately guilty, liked she’s judged Kaitlyn too soon. She is a terrible person for having assumed that Kaitlyn was just an unpleasant individual, or that she simply didn’t like her, and hadn’t appreciated that there might be such sad underlying reasons for her behaviour and demeanour. And, the thing is, she gets it. She is so angry at her own father right now, and at her mother somewhat too – because everything has fallen apart, and she is the one who is having to endure change and upset because of this (but this series of thoughts just makes her feel worse, and even more guilty, because they must be feeling pain too).

But she is angry at Kaitlyn for the way she’s treated her since they met. Yes, it can take a while to warm up to people, but she’s being unfairly judged because of the way she looks and acts and dresses. She had also noticed Kaitlyn flirting with Scott in Andrew’s car earlier, though she was relieved that he didn’t seem to rise to it and that she left with Andrew instead.

Is there history there? Is she really the sort of girl that Scott likes, or does he prefer Kaitlyn and her other friends – more outgoing, well dressed, made up, and confident? Does she need to make herself more like the Pink Ladies? She shudders a little at the thought if she’s honest, but then she reaches up to her newly pierced ears and feels the weight of the mascara on her eyelashes and realises she’s already bowed to their influence. Should she fight against it, or allow herself to be pushed further?

The squirrel hurries back down the tree, cheeks bulging with goodies to take on it’s journey. Even squirrels remind her of him. They’d talked for hours one afternoon about the similarities and differences of the fauna and flora of their respective home countries, and she’d found the black squirrels of particular interest. She shakes her head at the absurdity of the universe. It’s almost comical that not only have they ended up in the same country, and the same town in that country, and the same school in that town, and the same grade in that school, but she’s also ended up in the friendship group that is friends with his. And what’s that? A coincidence, a cruel trick of the universe, fate, luck, poor taste on both their parts? Has she befriended the right people, and does that group of people in question include him?

Him.

Scott; the boy she thought she had connected with on such a significant level. But now she wonders if those memories are just illusions. It was painful, how much she had missed him. No one had known about Scott, so when she’d missed him she felt even more isolated.

Her family hadn’t questioned her whereabouts during the day whilst they were at Lake Huron. They’d just spent time on top of one another for a week at the reunion, and they all needed some space – as long as everyone was back in time for dinner each night they could all do whatever they wanted. Her family understood that she was an introvert, and just needed time alone to recharge, read, go for walks. Little did they all know that she was doing all of those things, but instead of being alone she was with Scott.

There was the day they paddle boarded out to a small island with a picnic; there was the lunchtime they tossed a frisbee back and forth for nearly 2 hours without dropping it whilst chatting non-stop; there was the afternoon they made out and more in the shadow of the dock. And then there was the afternoon they just lay next to each other on the sand and read their books; the morning they hiked to watch the sunrise in silence, just enjoying the birdsong and the trees rustling in the light breeze; the evening they’d snuck back out after dinner and sat staring at the fireflies until he began snoring softly as his head rested on her shoulder. She was able to completely be herself around him, and he seemed to enjoy their moments of silence just as much as their conversations and shared laughter.

And this is why she’s so confused now, because she isn’t sure if the boy she met in the summer is really the same boy she saw again this evening – is he one, the other, both, neither? In the summer it had felt simple and natural, and now it feels incredibly complicated. Her first reaction to seeing him a few hours ago had been shock. She’d felt her heart stutter painfully and could have sworn that it stopped entirely for a split second before righting itself and starting once again. Her mouth had gone completely dry, and she felt a tingling in her legs as the muscles there twitched, not knowing whether to flee or launch herself at him. She assumes that this must have been similar to his initial response too. But whilst her initial surprise had quickly turned to happiness, his had presented as something…else.

She couldn’t place the emotion she saw in his face and heard in his voice, but her first impression had been anger and so she had fled, not wanting to be on the receiving end of it. Maybe she should have given him a chance, should have removed themselves from their watching audience so they could actually say hello and talk to one another. Because, if she’d learned anything this summer, it was that they were really good at talking. They had talked about everything; literature, politics, sports, family, education. If anything, the most satisfying part of that week had been their connection on an intellectual level – it was something she had been craving without knowing it, that sort of deep understanding of and respect for one another’s intelligence, strengths and beliefs, amongst other things.

But now she feels that that respect has been betrayed – mostly by what his friends did and said in the parking lot. It’s never nice to be the punchline of a joke or to have your dirty secrets out on display. Standing amongst their circle of friends earlier had felt like that nightmare where you turn up to school with no clothes on, except the reality was exponentially worse. And knowing he’s here, right where she is too, she cannot decide whether that’s better or worse than constantly refreshing her email every hour in the vague hope that he might have contacted her, and scouring social media for his presence, only for her searches to come up empty. But she’s done pining now (she repeats it like a mantra...though it’s falling on somewhat deaf ears) done feeling sorry for herself. She needs to get on with her life, even if her life has become some strange joke of the universe.

At least something vaguely good came out of this evening; she pretty much agreed to go out on a date with Rob Brown. He seems simple, kind, polite, and deserves a chance, especially whilst she is still sorting out Scott in her mind. Plus, Scott seeing her with another guy (especially the school’s sports star) may make things clear about where his mind set is? For now though, she’ll try to ignore and avoid him as much as possible. They don’t have any classes together, thank goodness, so that should make things easier. Because, if the boy she met again tonight is who he really is, she doesn’t want him anymore.

(But, deep down, she really does.)

~

Monday morning dawns too soon, the pain and confusion of the weekend still playing on her mind. Tessa may be shy and introverted, but she’s certainly not a coward, so she gets herself up and dressed as usual, taking an extra 10 minutes to do her makeup the way Gabby showed her on Friday night and attempts to tease a little more volume into her stubbornly flat hair. She dresses simply in a pair of jeans, white fitted t-shirt and a pastel pink cardigan, and slips a pair of pink ballet flats onto her feet. She takes a look at herself in the full-length mirror in the hallway before she heads downstairs; her black accented eyes and blushed lips and cheeks don’t really go with her outfit, but she hasn’t much else to wear. She makes a mental note to ask Ashley and Gabby for some clothing advice later at school.

Her mom is not in the kitchen when she makes her way downstairs, but she can hear her exasperated and angering voice coming from her home office down the hall. She hears two tinny male voices and remembers that her parents and their lawyers in Australia have a Skype conference call this morning. Tessa grabs a banana and a granola bar and creeps out of the house – she’ll have to walk to school this morning it seems. The early autumn air is crisp at this hour, and for a moment she debates going back in to grab another layer of clothing but decides against it – she doesn’t want to overhear any of her parents’ call.

A brisk (in both speed and temperature) 30-minute walk later she finds herself outside the still slightly ominous feeling school building. She’s quite early and knows that her friends will not have arrived yet, so decides to make her way towards the benches just off to the side of the building so she can sit down and look through some of her notes in preparation for classes today. She stops in her tracks about 50 metres from the benches when she spots the far one is occupied by Scott.

She shuffles quickly to her right, attempting to remove herself from his line of sight, but she doesn’t take her eyes off him. He looks relaxed, a white and blue Toronto Maple Leafs scarf tied loosely around his neck protecting him from the early morning chill. He’s reading ‘The Kite Runner’, the same book that she read on the plane from Australia this summer, a book she remembers mentioning to him and recommending. He appears to be a good way in, focussing intently on the pages in his right hand as his left fidgets with an old bus ticket.

She ducks behind a plant when he raises his head at the sound of a rickety engine thrumming in the car park. He hastily places the makeshift bookmark in the page he’s at, roughly pulls the scarf from his neck, and shoves it and the book into his bag before making his way over towards the tall figure of Andrew, who is slowly emerging from his car. She watches as they punch each other on the bicep in greeting – a uniquely male thing she’s just never understood – and appear to be exchanging pleasantries. Neither is particularly chatty, and if you saw them without knowing they were friends you would assume they were conversing out of duty, rather than a desire to do so – but maybe it’s too early in the day for chat, she knows that’s the last thing she feels like doing right now.

“Er…Tessa?” The gentle voice from behind her causes her to jump in surprise. She turns and cranes her neck up to see Rob looking at her, confused.

“Oh, hi Rob. How are you?” she asks him, blushing as she straightens up, glancing quickly over her shoulder to check that Scott is out of the vicinity, which he is, two leather clad sets of shoulders circling Andrew’s car, clearly discussing it in depth.

“I’m good,” she snaps her attention back to him. He still looks pretty confused, she can’t decide whether its endearing or unfortunate. “Why were you crouching in the bushes?”

“I, uh….” she fumbles for an excuse, and then realises she is standing next to a notice board. “I was just reading the notices,” she gestures limply at the board, but does a double take when she spots a poster for a Halloween dance. “Have you seen this?” He shakes his head, and she steps towards him to get a better look at the poster and read about the dance. The theme is ‘gothic glam’, though it specifically says no fancy dress. There’s also going to be a dance contest, the top prize being a $50 gift card and a free donut of the week until the end of the school year from The Jumping Bean coffee shop.

“Wow,” she says, excited by the prospect of a school dance, “this is so cool, are you going to go?”

Rob looks taken aback and momentarily scared, he rubs at the back of his neck and takes a step away from the notice board and the poster about the dance. “I, uh, I can’t dance,” he admits.

“That’s ok,” says Tessa, sensing his discomfort at the situation, “it’s a social event too, you don’t have to dance.”

“But you dance,” is all he says in reply.

 _Oh god_ , she thinks, _is he asking me to the dance? Did he think I was fishing for an invitation?_ He’s looking a bit sheepish and her smile becomes a little forced as she searches wildly for a topic to steer the conversation towards instead.

“Do you still want to get coffee after school?” she finds herself asking. Rob smiles and nods, looking somewhat relieved.

* * *

At 3:30 Scott, Matt, Andrew and Zach stroll into The Jumping Bean coffee shop, one of their regular after-school hangout spots. Tyler is still at school, serving detention for putting one of the dead rats due to be dissected in Biology into Madi's bag. It was hilarious, but Scott thinks it serves him damn right. Madi had been almost inconsolable at lunchtime, and had, frustratingly, provided another obstacle between himself and Tessa that day.

He'd spotted her sitting at one of the lunch tables, seemingly alone, picking at her food with a plastic fork. He'd summoned up the courage to go over and talk to her, but as he walked over Madi hurried past him and flung herself into the seat next to Tessa. She had startled slightly, but as soon as she set eyes on her friend, she dropped her fork and embraced her, nodding kindly as she listened to Madi recount her ordeal, gently sweeping her hair out of her face and delving into her school bag for a tissue for her to dry her eyes. The entire exchange had made Scott's heart hurt; the compassion and empathy she was showing Madi actually made him go temporarily weak at the knees, and he had forced himself to turn on his heel and flee the scene before he did or said something (else) stupid.

He’d got closer to talking to her right after lunch when he bumped into her in the corridor, but she had looped her arm through Gabby’s and walked off with a flick of her ponytail before he could even clear his throat. Scott thought her eyes looked even more piercing than usual but couldn’t put his finger on why. His gaze didn’t linger for long as Gabby had glanced over her shoulder and upon seeing him watching them had narrowed her iridescent eyes at him in warning.

Problem is, now that he knows she’s here she seems to be popping up everywhere. And, when his timetable got changed this morning to accommodate his advanced algebra class as well as the extra credit biology he’s taking, he’d found himself in her English Literature class that afternoon too. He had arrived late as he had to come from another building, and she had seemed very interested in the pen resting on her desk as he walked past her towards a free desk at the rear of the classroom. She seemed to have no issue with ignoring his presence there, engaging fully in the lesson and getting into a heated debate with Mr MacIntosh about the notion that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is far from a love story, but instead insisted that Romeo should have been arrested and imprisoned for marrying and having sex with a _child_. Her argument absolutely flabbergasts Scott – who had always veered down the ‘this whole mess is Friar Laurence’s fault’ route – and he, along with the other boys and some of the girls in the class, had found himself shrinking down into his seat slightly in embarrassment. She was gone in a flash at the end of the class, and he was left standing in the classroom looking just as sheepish as Mr MacIntosh.

The coffee shop is fairly busy, as it usually is after school, and the boys make their way over to the table they usually occupy in the corner. It's empty, even though there are many groups standing. Scott knows no one dares cross Andrew and deign to sit at _his_ table, something he still feels uncomfortable and guilty about. They take their seats and then Scott goes up to the counter to order their drinks and food, he pulls the collar up on his jacket as he walks over, the AC is up way too high for early September.

There’s a girl in front of him in the queue with light brown hair tied up in a high ponytail, her petite shoulders swamped by a letterman jacket which reads ‘Brown’ across the back and as the queue shuffles forwards, he accidentally catches the back of her pink ballet flat.

“Sorry” he murmurs.

“It’s fine, don’t worry” comes the reply, in an all too familiar Australian twang.

“Tessa?”

She whips her head around as she hears him say her name, but as soon as she lays eyes on him she swiftly turns back around, clearly seeking to ignore him.

“I washed it.” He doesn’t know why that’s the first thing that comes out of his mouth.

She turns her head again, slowly this time, looking at him in utter bafflement. She quirks an eyebrow, he takes that as an invitation for him to elaborate.

“Your email address,” he looks down, guilt washing over him, “I, uh, I put the piece of paper in the pocket of my shorts, and then they got washed. So…I lost it. I’m sorry.”

She pauses for a moment, seemingly taking in his explanation for not getting in touch with her, before turning her body to face him fully, arms folded. He feels his heart rate falter momentarily when he takes her in fully (he remembers thinking in the summer that he would be happy to feel his heart do that every day for the rest of his life if it meant spending each of those days with Tessa). Her eyes are darkly lined, and her eyelashes seem impossibly long. Her lips look a shade darker than normal, and she is no longer wearing the top and cardigan that she was earlier in the day; instead she is wearing a blush pink silky top with thin spaghetti straps, on top of which she’s wearing the letterman jacket.

 _Rob Brown’s_ Letterman jacket…

“You…uh, you look really pretty, Tess,” he manages to stutter out, trying to hide his shock and, honestly, disgust at seeing her in that jacket.

“Thanks” she replies, curtly. “I’m here on a date.” Her eyes flick across to one of the tables by the window where Rob is sitting, straightening the sugar packets in the little pot on the table. Scott tries incredibly hard not to let his face give him away, an odd mixture of jealousy and amusement bubbling inside him.

“That’s nice,” he says politely, but with a very straight (probably too straight) face.

“It is, yes,” agrees Tessa, but her tone and her eyes give her away. She looks bored, slightly exasperated.

“Real lively conversation you’re having?” says Scott in a cautiously teasing voice, a small smirk quirking the corner of his lips.

“Yes, of course, thrilling,” Tessa says deadpan, before a small but cheeky grin crosses her features, her jade eyes momentarily avoiding his.

Scott feels himself relax at her smile.

“Look, Tess,” he reaches for her hand and holds it gently between them, relieved that she doesn’t resist his touch. “I’m so sorry about Friday. I have no idea why I reacted that way or said what I said. I was way out of line and I have no excuse. Please forgive me?”

There’s a pause for a few moments as Tessa looks into his eyes searchingly, a small frown on her face. He holds his breath. She looks down at the floor and he feels his heart begin to plummet towards his stomach. She sighs and squeezes his hand lightly, “I…” she nervously darts her eyes back to his, “thank you for apologising. I forgive you. And, um, I’m sorry too. For saying, well, you know what I said.”

He smiles, “No need to apologise, I think I deserved that one.”

Her smile in her response is gentle and genuine, her jade green eyes sparkling brighter alongside the dark make-up. The man in the queue behind them coughs pointedly, and they both blush slightly as they shuffle forwards towards the counter, dropping their entwined hands.

“So, Rob Brown huh?” Scott asks slightly awkwardly.

“Yeah, he asked me out Friday after the rally. He’s sweet, it’s, uh, he’s uh, simple…” she trails off

Scott snorts, “Yeah, trust me, I know he’s ‘simple’”

Tessa shoots him a look of annoyance, and he flinches a little.

“Oh come on, Tess. How is this date really going, huh? Been discussing your favourite books with him? The cultural peculiarities and similarities of Canada and Australia?”

She’s stumped; he knows this because she’s now doing a rather uncanny impression of what she had called his ‘shocked fish face’. While her mouth silently opens and closes her eyes, unblinking, search his.

“I thought not” he says, smugly, to which she lets out a breathy huff and then her shoulders begin to shake gently as she giggles.He snorts with laughter and she elbows him lightly in the ribs. Rob looks up then and glances over to where he and Tessa are standing in the slowly moving queue. Scott raises his hand and wiggles his fingers in a mock wave, which Rob (much, he’s sure, to Tessa’s mortification) returns with a look of confusion on his face before turning back to the pot of sugar packets.

Scott’s shoulders are shaking with laughter and Tessa sighs, he stops laughing very quickly.

“Don’t be that guy, Scott” she says seriously, but gently. “Rob is sweet, he’s athletic, he’s a gentleman, and honestly,” she sighs and looks sharply into his eyes, “I know where I stand with him, yeah.”

Scott has no response to this. He knows he’s _this_ close to putting his foot in his mouth and ruining it all again. He’s already checked two things off his list; he’s apologised, and he’s explained and, thankfully, she’s listened to him. Yes, he wants her back – even more so now they’ve actually broken the ice – but he knows that’s not his choice to make, it’s hers and he cannot force her to do anything. She seems happy here right now, bored perhaps, but happy, and that’s all he can wish for. He has no right to get angry at her, or ask her to stop, because that’s not who he is, and he needs her to know that.

“Yeah, yeah I get it. Sorry, I shouldn’t make fun of him, not if he’s making you happy. I just want you to be happy, Tess.” His tone is gentle, composed, defeated (hopefully only temporarily).

“I’m gonna go.”

Tessa opens her mouth as if to protest this, but he looks into her eyes and offers a sad smile. She closes her mouth and looks down at her feet.

“Enjoy your date, I’ll uh, I’ll see you around, and in English class on Thursday?” he voice is barely above a whisper.

She nods at him, and he returns it with one of his own. He catches Zach’s eye in the corner of the room and gestures that he’s heading out, pointing at the non-existent watch on his wrist as an excuse for his sudden departure, before pulling his scarf out of his bag and wrapping it around his neck as he exits the coffee shop.

He walks home again, at a much brisker pace this time though. He enters his house with a cold nose and ears, but with a plan in his mind. She likes athletes, huh? He could do that. Plus, some extracurricular sporting activities will look good on his university application.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to @ladyfriday for her help in sorting out what was a mess of a draft. This was a hard grind, and I sincerely hope it doesn't read that way. I have some ideas for this fic and I really hope I can realise them!

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted chapters 1 and 2 of this fic way back in July. Then I hit major writer's block and much of my writing was destroyed when my water bottle leaked on a plane and caused all the ink in my notebook to smudge or disappear completely. After that I hit a massive slump and didn't write anything for quite a while.
> 
> I finally sat myself down to really think about what I wanted this fic to be and where I wanted it to go, and am now happy (or as happy as I can be) with what I'm planning. I deleted the original chapters and am starting afresh, mainly because I have decided to set it in the much nearer past, rather than the late '50s as the original film is.
> 
> Shout out to my gorgeous writer friends, who have provided me with loads of help and advice (both in terms of writing, and emotionally) over these past few months.
> 
> Comments and constructive feedback are always greatly appreciated.


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